


family that i chose

by theglitterati



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (they aren't dating in this but it's still fairly shippy hence the tag), Estrangement, Family Issues, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theglitterati/pseuds/theglitterati
Summary: Kuroo's mother shows up unexpectedly and upsets him. Kenma helps.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 7
Kudos: 125





	family that i chose

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Peace" by Taylor Swift. That's the third fic I've named after this song!

“Oi, Kenma. It’s our stop.”

Kenma blinked, looking up from his phone. “Already?”

“Yeah, already.” Kuroo gently shoved him off the train, a hand on the small of his back like he might fall.

They walked home, Kenma lagging behind. Normally, Kuroo walked slower to accommodate Kenma’s short legs, but today he sped ahead. Either that, or Kenma was slower than usual.

“Why do you look so tired?” Kuroo asked, when they rounded the corner onto their block.

“Because I’m tired.”

“I didn’t make you do any receiving drills today.”

“You made me set for Lev for _an hour,”_ Kenma whined. "That's way more tiring."

“Maybe next time I’ll make you do receiving drills with Lev.”

“I’d kill you.”

“Nah.” Kuroo chuckled at the grimace on Kenma’s face. “You’d miss me too—”

“Tetsurou?”

A woman stepped out of a car in front of Kuroo’s house. She was short and nondescript, about the age of Kenma’s mother. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun. Whoever she was, Kenma didn’t recognize her.

Kuroo, on the other hand, looked like he’d seen a ghost. His laugh died in his throat as he choked out, _“Mom?”_

The woman smiled. “Hi, Tetsurou, baby. I thought you’d be home around this time. I was hoping we could talk.” She was friendly, all smiles, while all the colour had drained from Kuroo’s face. 

“Uh,” he said. “Alright.” 

Kenma grabbed his hand as he stepped forward. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kuroo gave a jerky nod. “I’ll text you later.”

Kenma didn’t want to leave, but Kuroo was already gone, meeting his mother in a stiff hug and heading to his house. His yard had a high fence; Kenma couldn’t see them after the gate closed. He checked if Kuroo’s dad’s car was in the driveway — it was — before crossing the street to his own house.

Kenma didn’t know much about Kuroo’s mom. He’d never even seen a picture of her before. He knew she left Kuroo’s family right before he moved in across the street, his father moving in with his parents so they could help raise Kuroo. Aside from a few birthday cards over the years, Kenma was pretty sure Kuroo hadn’t talked to her since then.

He also knew that Kuroo’s parents had fought a lot before they separated. That there was a reason Kuroo slept with a pillow over each ear. That some of Kuroo’s birthday cards had come on days that were nowhere near his real birthday, as though she couldn’t bother to remember the day she gave birth to him.

Kenma had just settled on his bed with a game and a snack when he heard the front door open, loud footsteps banging on the stairs. His dad was never home this early, and his mom didn’t stomp like that.

Kuroo appeared in the doorway, looking lost. “Sorry for not knocking.” He crossed the room in two steps and flung himself on the bed next to Kenma, head hitting the wall with a clunk.

“You’re already done talking to her?” Kenma said. Kuroo nodded. “What happened?”

“Um, not much. We just talked a little.” Kuroo blinked, and blinked again. “She asked me about, um, school, and—” A tear slipped down his cheek. “Fuck, I—” He dissolved into sobs, curling into Kenma’s shoulder.

“Kuro?” Kenma rubbed his back, trying to calm him down as he wept. Kuroo never cried like this, not even when he fell out of a tree and broke his arm when they were kids. He cried when they lost important matches, and at sad movies, but this was different, so raw and out of control that it scared Kenma.

The backrub wasn’t working; Kuroo started hyperventilating, harsh gasps making him cough and sputter. “Hey,” Kenma said. “You have to breathe.” Kuroo trembled harder, but he listened. Kenma hugged him tight until his breathing returned to something like normal.

“Sorry,” Kuroo said wetly, when he could speak again.

“Why are you sorry?” 

He looked up, his face a red, blotchy mess. “I got your shirt wet.” 

Kenma shoved Kuroo’s head back down on his shoulder. “Like I care.” Kuroo settled in, letting the last few tears fall. Kenma wiped them away with his knuckle.

Finally Kuroo exhaled loudly. “She asked if I still play soccer.”

“Huh?”

“I played soccer when I was little, remember?” Kenma had a vague recollection of going to one of Kuroo’s games the first year they were friends, before he sold his soul to volleyball. 

“She said she didn’t come right after school because she assumed I would have soccer practice. It’s like… you should know I play volleyball! Like, you’re guessing what I might be doing now based on what I was like when I was six. Why not ask me!? Why not ask instead of showing up and being like, ‘Hey, Tetsurou, I haven’t given a shit about you for the last ten years, but how’s soccer!?’ That’s fucked up, right?”

Kenma nodded, but couldn’t say anything before Kuroo spoke up again, waving his arms wildly as he talked. At least Ranting Kuroo was more normal than Crying Kuroo.

“She said she came by because she was in the neighbourhood. Exactly that: ‘in the neighbourhood.’ Like, ‘oh, I’m in Nerima, might as well surprise the son I abandoned! I’m sure that won’t be traumatizing for him at all!’”

Kuroo’s phone went off; he stopped talking to check it. “My dad made her leave. She left a phone number, in case I want to call her.”

“Do you?”

“Not really.” Kuroo sighed, slumping back against Kenma. “Is that bad?”

“No,” Kenma said. He never wanted to see Kuroo hurt like that again.

“If anything, seeing her made me _not_ want to talk to her even more. I always wondered if I should reach out to her, or if she would reach out to me, and now that it’s happened, I don’t have to wonder: I don’t want her in my life.” Kuroo clicked his tongue. “It’s annoying that I feel bad about that, when she should be the one feeling bad." He nudged Kenma. "And I feel bad that you had to listen to me whine about her.”

“I listen to you whine every day,” Kenma said. Kuroo snorted. “It’s fine, Kuro.”

“Thanks.” Kenma couldn’t see his face properly from this angle, but he thought Kuroo was smiling. “You know what the worst part was?”

“What?”

He looked up at Kenma through his bangs. “She didn’t even know who you were.”

“Huh?”

“I was talking to her outside the front door, and my dad heard us and came out and told her to leave. They started fighting, and I saw my opportunity to go and took it, because I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. So I was like, ‘I’m going to Kenma’s.’ And when I was walking away, I heard her say, ‘Who’s Kenma?’ Can you believe that?”

“You met me after you moved,” Kenma said. “Why would she know who I am?”

“Because you’re the most important person in my life!” Kuroo said. “We’ve done everything together for the last ten years. You’re like a part of me. Knowing me without knowing you is like… like trying to play volleyball one-handed.”

“You need to find something else to compare things to,” Kenma said, because he was so choked up all he could do was tease.

Kuroo moved impossibly closer, burying his face in Kenma’s neck. “You’re more my family than she ever was."

 _"Kuro,"_ Kenma whispered, blinking back tears of his own. Kuroo hummed and shut his eyes, resting on Kenma’s shoulder. The quiet sound of snores a few minutes later told Kenma he’d fallen asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at kyrstin.tumblr.com!


End file.
